Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 390 - 25 - The Annihilation Caused by One Person

Chapter 390: Chapter 25 - The Annihilation Caused by One Person

The escaping mutants entered into Tang Zheng’s scope vision about eight hundred meters away and then rushed forward mindlessly on a sixty-degree angle. Their target was the sparse birch forest on Tang Zheng’s right side. Only if they rushed into that, could they perhaps escape the hunting group’s pursuit. However, the distance of over eight hundred meters became an insurmountable chasm for them.

With the sound of gunfire, two more wasteland men fell, along with the children on their backs, who then burst into loud crying on the ground.

The open terrain in front of them was not suitable for fleeing, especially since each of them was carrying a heavy load of luggage. In the apocalyptic world, they didn’t want to lose any supplies, even if it meant risking their lives.

Tang Zheng focused, slightly shifting his muzzle and fixating his sight on the last wastelander. With the pull of the trigger, the exited man instantly tumbled down into the snow.

With a clink, Tang Zheng ejected the spent brass shell casing, again locked onto his target. From the opponents’ shouts, he knew his sneak attack had been discovered. The reason they hadn’t retaliated was because they couldn’t ascertain his location and didn’t want to waste bullets.

With a bang, Tang Zheng fired again. His luck had finally left him as his target tripped and miraculously dodged the bullet. The fortunate survivor immediately did a few rolls on the ground. By the time he stopped, his muzzle was already pointing in the direction of the incoming bullet.

Two bullets hit the snow right next to Tang Zheng, just barely missing his skin.

"The wastelanders are indeed skilled shots. Are they planning to take down their spoils with every single bullet?" Tang Zheng didn’t reload his gun, but instead crawled forward, moving towards another fir tree.

Tang Zheng was too cautious. The wastelanders were simply not willing to waste bullets to retaliate, but their approach was highly efficient. Because the adventure group had intruded on their ’hunting ground’, they intensified their attacks. As a result, three more running mutants were shot down.

The typical tactic of the adventure group was to maintain a distance of approximately three or four hundred meters behind the mutants, constantly threatening them with death and exhausting their energy before launching an attack. But now they simply wanted to catch their prey as quickly as possible so they could deal with the snipers.

Tang Zheng wouldn’t be polite and took the opportunity to practice his shooting, thereby taking down another group member through the chest.

"There’s no need to aim for the head. Shoot the body and they’ll die just the same!" Tang Zheng muttered to himself, focusing even more intently. After firing another bullet, he didn’t wait to see if he hit his target before he began to crawl again, changing his location.

With two bullets hitting his hiding spot, the adventure group wasn’t willing to endure these meaningless losses anymore. A man, presumably the group leader, carrying an AK47, roared a few times. Immediately, five men separated from the pursuing group and quickly moved towards Tang Zheng.

"A straight shot should be easier than at an angle, wouldn’t it?" Tang Zheng couldn’t wait for them to charge him head-on. He took out a Kevlar helmet and put it on his head, not even bothering to dodge. As soon as they entered his scope he decisively pulled the trigger and then reloaded.

With a thunk, another unlucky soul fell, much like a tree being chopped down. Tang Zheng began to enjoy the feel of sniping, but his satisfaction was short-lived. The opponent returned fire, and more than a dozen bullets hit the accumulated snow in front of him. A few bullets whizzed past his ear, causing Tang Zheng to catch a whiff of the scent of death.

"Damn it, doesn’t that bastard Trojan have any gear to protect the head?" Tang Zheng was no longer cocky and obediently moved to change his position before continuing his attack.

With a bang, he missed. His second shot also missed. It was indeed difficult to shoot a moving target, especially after the opponent had been put on alert. But Tang Zheng didn’t rush, steadily pulling his trigger, and with a bang, he finally hit his target.

Thud thud, the 3P attack pack was hit. Tang Zheng immediately felt a shock and heard the sound of bullets hitting the ammo clip.

"We can’t play around any more." The opponents had already rushed within two hundred meters, wholly unsuitable for a sniper rifle to operate. Tang Zheng also wasn’t willing to risk his life so casually, so he decisively switched to his AK74M and began his counterattack.

This time, the remaining three felt as if they were living a nightmare, as they faced a Conqueror who didn’t know the meaning of conserving resources.

The AK74M spewed dazzling muzzle flames and poured out bullets. Amid the whistling sound, snow was sent flying, and the three poor souls immediately hit the deck. Up until then, they had been able to use their experience to charge the sniper during his reload gap, but now all they could see was a stream of bullets whizzing past, making them too afraid to charge.

"Is this guy insane? He’s already fired three ammo clips!" The wastelanders, with their wealth of combat experience, easily figured this out.

"Isn’t it good if he’s out of ammo? I’d rather deal with a guy bare-handed." Another wastelander hiding behind a rock spat out some saliva. But before he finished talking, his comrade hiding in the snow pile had his head blown off.

Seeing that there was help, and close to being caught, the mutants took the risk. They stopped running, found several rocks to serve as their shelter and organized a counterattack on the spot.

Tang Zheng put down the AK74M, picked up the M200, and aimed at the targets several hundred meters away. Because all of them were either crawling or squatting, exchanging fire with the mutants, to Tang Zheng they were basically target practice. His next two shots were both successful.

The wasteland dweller hiding behind the rocks, upon hearing the sniper rifle shot, thought that Tang Zheng had run out of assault rifle bullets. He and his partner sprang out, but they had hardly taken a few steps when the enemy unexpectedly raised the AK74M hung on his chest with a rifle strap and fired a sweep at them.

His companion fell back like a sieve full of bullet holes, his body trembling. The remaining wasteland dweller swiftly crouched down, firing his gun to intimidate, no longer caring about conserving ammunition.

Hearing the sniper rifle shot again, he was frustrated. He raised his head subtly and saw the tactical backpack and half a gun barrel barely visible in the snow. He immediately sprayed half a magazine’s worth of bullets in that direction, but the expected screams did not come. He realized something was wrong just too late as a bullet whistled in and pierced his head.

Tang Zheng burst out from a snowbank nearby, took two large strides towards the M200, and after changing the ammo clip, began shooting.

At this point, the adventurers were about to defeat the mutants. With only women and children left, and only two elderly people still fighting, all the vigorous men had died in battle. The battlefield, blanketed in snow, was eerily dotted with bodies in filthy clothes and splashes of bright-red blood.

When the group leader heard the gunshots on the hillside resuming, he knew that the five group members he had despatched were dead. A chill ran through his heart, after an intense battle, he had only nine subordinates left.

"Retreat." The group leader gritted his teeth, glaring angrily at the hillside, and gave the order to retreat. He didn’t care about the lives of his subordinates, he realized their hunt had failed. Even if they captured the mutants without considering casualties, they’d only be aiding the guy on the hillside. Moreover, they had delayed too long, and might end up wiped out. If they retreated now, they would at least have time, they could hang back and wait for an opportunity to strike.

Seeing the easy prey slip from their grasp, the group members cursed in fury. A few ignored orders and continued to attack, wanting to take down the mutants.

"Want to run?" Tang Zheng targeted those who were fleeing, aiming to kill off all these people.

"Group leader, he wants to finish us all." A group member had just shouted out when he noticed a spray of blood burst from the group leader’s chest, killing him instantly. Scared to stay a moment longer, he took off running.

Faced with a few targets who could only run, Tang Zheng gladly took them down. Assured that there were no survivors from the adventuring group, Tang Zheng turned his gun towards the mutants.

All the men were dead. The women and the older children picked up the rifles, watching the hillside warily. Then, a silence of about five minutes ensued.

"I mean you no harm. You may take your belongings and leave." Tang Zheng had seen the fighting spirit of these mutants and admired it greatly. He shouted out loud, "If I wanted you dead, you would’ve been gone by now."

As a show of power, he fired once. The bullet sparked up a flurry of snow in front of one of the women. Faced with absolute disadvantage, they believed that Tang Zheng meant no harm. Silently, they picked up their luggage and children. There were no tears or complaints, just one last glance at the bodies of their husbands and brothers, then they continued on their journey.

"You may take the bodies of five adventurers. You can keep all the spoils." Tang Zheng sighed and spoke again, unable to bear it.

Upon hearing this, the women’s faces lit up with joy. After a moment’s hesitation, they immediately ran towards the adventurers’ bodies and stripped them clean, not even leaving a pair of underwear.

As they walked away for the second time, they finally wore a faint smile. A few children draped in thick clothes sneaked glances at the figure on the small hillside, who stood tall and strong like an unyielding mountain.

Tang Zheng emerged from his hiding spot, not worried that the women would shoot at him. He moved towards the bodies and began looking over the spoils of war.

A dozen or so various types of rifles, a military dagger, over six hundred bullets, and all sorts of miscellaneous things. Of particular note was the hand grenade he found on the group leader. The spoils from these dozen or so people, added up and converted, were worth almost four hundred bottle caps. To any wastelander, this was quite a lucrative haul. But Tang Zheng was not happy.

"Am I really supposed to rob the mutant tribe?" Riding on the Velociraptor, he thought about the women and children who had left. Tang Zheng felt very heavy-hearted. Was he supposed to become a robber, even if they were not fellow countrymen? The idea of slaughtering civilians was something he found repulsive.

"We’ll see when we get there." Tang Zheng rejoined his group, immediately attracting a great deal of surprise. They saw the pile of rifles he carried and quickly crowded around.

"What! You took down a twenty-plus people adventurer group by yourself?" Upon hearing Tang Zheng’s narration, Luo Xiji and the others were nearly popping their eyes out of their heads.

"You shouldn’t have let those mutants go, they all would make good slaves. Even if nobody would buy them, you could have sold the women as prostitutes and raised the children as cannon fodder." One adventurer was regretting Tang Zheng’s waste. If only they had run into this situation, they would have made a fortune on this trip.

"You even let them take the spoils of war? Did you burn your brain?" Someone asked where the missing rifles had gone. When they learned Tang Zheng had given them away, they immediately screamed. Finding a kind-hearted person in this Wasteland World was harder than reaching the sky.

"Tang Zheng, our goal this time is to raid a mutant tribe. You’re not having second thoughts, are you?" Luo Xiji hadn’t expected Tang Zheng to be such a pain. Where did he get so much kindness from? (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com, vote for recommendation/vote monthly, your support, is my biggest motivation.)